Tax Code Due Reform

FAMILIES OFTEN ARE SHOCKED to see the rates (up to 55 percent) at which the government can tax a deceased person's estate.

The lion's share of that wealth -- which has already been taxed at least once before -- goes not to the family of the one who earned it, but to the government.

The original idea behind the estate tax may have been to redistribute income, but the people affected most negatively by the estate tax today are not the super-rich. The wealthy can find accountants and lawyers to shelter their estates.

In the end, the estate tax is not a tax on wealth, but a tax on first-generation business owners struggling to gain a stake in our economy.

The punitive effect of estate taxes is only one example of what is wrong with our tax code. Family businesses, the American Dream and the free enterprise system are all threatened by the current tax system.

Only 30 percent of family businesses or farms make it through the second generation. Only 13 percent make it through the third generation.

"The bottom line," writes Herman Cain, CEO and president of the National Restaurant Association and chairman of Godfather's Pizza, "is that this nation's tax code is punitive and impedes our prosperity by penalizing work, savings and investment. We have to ... start from scratch."

Many members of Congress who argue against reforming our nation's tax code seem to believe the current code benefits those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Speaking as a successful businessman with humble beginnings, Mr. Cain can assure them that they are profoundly mistaken.